Tag: Jo (J.K.) Rowling

Some of you may recall that, years ago, when I lived in England, writing for The Guardian, when I shared the bestseller list with Jo Rowling (she at the pinnacle, me in the valley), we became buds through my twinsâ€™ love for her astonishing work.

But Jo knows that I found the conclusion of her series a sorry let-down, a second-rate â€œShow Down at the OK Corralâ€ for Wizards.Â In my opinion (and she does not at all agree), Jo was too distracted by a concern for how the ending would play on film.

I bugged her about it until she told me the â€œotherâ€ endings.Â Every author has them â€“ and we all look over our old drafts, after publication, and say, â€œDamn!Â I should have used that versionâ€ â€“ then we lock it away before someone sees it and agrees.

No, Jo wouldnâ€™t show me typed copies, but she told me a couple of â€œI could have done thisâ€ endings.

One of them knocked me over, and I have to share it. (Sorry Jo, thatâ€™s the danger of befriending an investigative reporter â€“ if you forget to use the magical words, â€œThis is off the record.â€)Â I can understand, though, why she would put aside this quieter, yet far more harrowing, conclusion.

I wrote it down that night in October 2007.Â I donâ€™t claim that this is exactly word-for-word as she told it to me (Jo: please edit!) and I left out all the side stuff about me telling my oblivious kids, â€œYou really should listen to this; years from now youâ€™ll want to say you heard this,â€ and the minor mishap with my coffee.

But I just have to put it out here and hope that Jo and her publisher donâ€™t slam me with an Avada Kedavra curse.

Iâ€™ll assume youâ€™ve read the books â€“ and if you havenâ€™t, for shame! â€“ so I wonâ€™t introduce this at all except to say that this alternative (and quite troubling) ending veers away from the printed and film versions just before Harryâ€™s final confrontation with The Dark Lord, Voldemort.

And please:Â If you want to say that I didnâ€™t get her voice and story details exactly, keep in mind that Iâ€™m working from mental notes â€“ and that Iâ€™m no J.K. Rowling.Â But then, no one is.

To the Forbidden Forest

Harry marched toward the field where Voldemort waited with his pack of Dementors.Â Harryâ€™s scar burned brutally, saving him the pain of thinking too deeply about his decision, likely to bring him nothing but death.

What special evil, what deadly and devious spell had the Dark Lord prepared for Harryâ€™s destruction? Voldemort had hunted after Harry for more than a decade; doubtless Voldemort would arm himself with a special curse far more powerful and final than the Avada Kedavra which had failed to kill Harry as a child.